Winter Dreams
by allihavetodoisfall
Summary: Prime with reincarnated Bayverse characters. After crash-landing in Antarctica searching for Energon, Soundwave finds himself relying on a human he should know from somewhere. But where exactly?
1. Chapter 1

Author's Notes: This made perfect sense in my mind. Not so much now. Because I wanted to write something concerning Transformers Prime, yet I cannot for the life of me get Dylan and Soundwave out of my head.

Anyhow, this is dedicated to Mauzzsi who got me into the extraordinarily awkward relationship between Dylan and Soundwave.

Characters: Soundwave, Dylan Gould

Universe: Prime with reincarnated Bayverse characters.

Disclaimer: I do not own Transformers.

_As so frequently would be the case in the future, Dexter was unconsciously dictated to by his winter dreams._

_-Winter Dreams by F. Scott Fitzgerald_

Winter Dreams

Soundwave was cold. That was a fact. His pain sensors had shut down cycles ago, cutting off the stinging bite of the ice that was freezing inside his circuitry.

He _had _hurt all over, especially after hitting the glacier full on and ripping one of his wings off, and subsequently breaking the thin ice over the sea which he had fallen into. Not anymore.

Soundwave was not one to give in to despair. He disliked the idea of it, but the mild storm had become a full-blown blizzard in less than ten cycles, giving him barely any time to send a heavily encrypted message to the _Nemesis _stating his predicament.

Leaning heavily against the glacier which he had crashed into, Soundwave sat up, massaging his injured shoulder in an attempt to try and get some kind of feeling into it. His hands had gone numb.

He had to move, if only to get to the other side of the glacier. It might protect him from some of the wind long enough for him to outlast the storm. His body was designed for spying and reconnaissance; not for exposure to the elements. By all rights he shouldn't even have come out here.

The ground bridge had been acting up for an Earth week. The _Nemesis's _scanners had picked up on Energon in the Antarctic, and Soundwave had been the only one who was available to go. If this had been earlier in the stellar cycle, Soundwave would have blamed Starscream's bumbling for the malfunctions. It was supposed to work at least two more times, and the Energon had been badly needed, which was why Megatron wasn't willing to send a Vehicon or someone…_less qualified _for the job.

Using his free arm, he hauled himself up. Ignoring the warnings flashing in his vision, he began walking around the ice.

This storm, Dylan Gould decided, was nothing any reasonable human should live through.

He was sitting at the control console, watching the huge mass of air and snow hover over their location, sipping from a huge mug of coffee.

The rest of his skeleton crew had gone to bed, preferring sleep to watching the storm over them. As much as Dylan wished he was back in Maryland crunching the cost of the expedition in the comfort of his own home, he would rather be awake than sleeping in five minute intervals as he was prone to do here.

The building was attached to a small hangar they used to store the plane. One of the guys (Dylan couldn't remember who) had taken it out yesterday for a trip to civilization. He could hear the wind whistling inside the empty building.

Tired of staring at the radar. Dylan turned on the television, a tiny thing that had two channels: neither of which English was the dominant language.

He recognized the dubbed movie instantly, and almost sighed. _The Thing. _If only something _that _interesting ever happened here.

Taking another sip of coffee, he checked the windmill's power. The 'Mill, as it was affectionately dubbed, was the only reason the team was on this continent. It powered the entire base and was, according to the company's beliefs, the future of energy. Currently it was running at maximum efficiency.

Through said howling winds, Dylan distinctly heard a crash. There was a three second pause, and then the whole building trembled for a moment. Then the storm quieted. Dylan knew it would last for about ten minutes, and if he was still outside when that time was up, he was a dead man.

He pulled on his multiple jackets and gloves. Almost as an afterthought, he grabbed the unused rifle from its place.

Soundwave stopped where he was. Paused, forcing his pain sensors to go online for a moment, then collapsed where he stood.

His legs were too stiff. He wouldn't manage to go all the way around. He shut his optics for an instant, assessing his situation.

There would be no time for reinforcements. His joints were locking up more quickly than he could move, and unless he could get warmth in the next six cycles, he was going to go into multi-system failure.

He barely noticed the storm had quieted. It was still dark, though he could make out a dark shape barely two mechanometers away. Probably some abandoned human research facility.

His optics were closing, but not before seeing the blue lights that adorned his body begin to shine. His body was totally numb now, oblivious to the freezing air around him.

"What the-"

Dylan peeled off the goggles from his face, rubbed his eyes and put them back on, eyes watering from exposure to the icy air.

There was this…_thing _lying not ten feet from the door. Huge. In the sunlight it would probably be dark blue but in the darkness it was jet black with light blue lights shining on some places of its body.

He shouldn't have moved one step forward. Every instinct was screaming at him to take a lesson from _The Thing _and leave this obviously alien creature alone to hopefully freeze and die.

The expletive had died in his mouth as he could have sworn it _looked _at him for a split second before its visor dimmed and it slumped to the ground, stopping all motion instantly.

But he did step forward. His boots crunched in the fresh snowdrifts as he made his way toward the creature, confident for no reason save a hunch that he wouldn't be intentionally hurt.

_Look, I'm safe. They said I'm safe._

Where had that come from? He was now close enough to the creature that he could touch it. He noted absently that it was made entirely of metal and was decidedly asymmetrical: one wing was missing. From the glowing liquid that was frozen to its back, Dylan guessed it had been torn off.

Reaching out his rifle-free hand, Dylan touched the side of its face, half expecting it to immediately wake up and start shooting at him. The only response he got was a movement so slight he thought it was his imagination; a tiny inclination of the head as if it was leaning into his touch.

"Hello?" his breath was visible in the air. The winds were starting to pick up again. If something didn't happen fast he would be forced back inside and his unexpected visitor certainly wouldn't survive another onslaught of the storm.

Remarkably, the alien responded. His visor brightened and he lifted his head. The blue lights intensified. That was either a bad or good thing. Dylan was inclined to believe the former.

"Do you understand me?"

A slight nod. Dylan removed his gloved hand.

"I don't think I've ever seen one of…_you_ before but I'm guessing you're not dealing with the cold too well?"

Another nod. Dylan wasn't sure how the rest of his team would handle an alien robot living in the hangar until the storm burned out. But he couldn't leave him out here like an abandoned puppy.

_I'm a liaison. I liaise._

Dylan shoved the phrase out of his mind.

"Can you make it to the hangar?" he gestured to the building with his arm.

In acknowledgement, the robot managed to get to his knees as a huge gust of wind hit him. If he hadn't been blocked by the alien's body, Dylan would have been thrown off of his feet.

Painfully, as chunks of ice broke off with his every movement, the alien began crawling toward the building. Dylan jogged ahead to unlock the doors – with this weather the plane wouldn't return until the runway could be cleared off.

It wasn't much warmer in the hanger than outside, but it was out of the wind, and the heating could be turned on.

Barely making it inside, the alien collapsed with another loud crash that should have woken the dead. Dylan prayed that his team slept better than the deceased.

He switched on the lights, placing the rifle on a crate near the door. He had been right. Its body was dark blue and asymmetrical.

"You have a name?" Dylan asked.

Its visor flickered before displaying his own name.

_Dylan Gould. Born 1970. Age: 41. Occupation: financial advisor for Hotchkiss-Gould investments. _

"I meant your name." Dylan was a little disturbed by how easily he could be accessed.

He could have sworn it tried to speak. Making a noise sort of like couching, it clutched its throat area, digging into it. The blue liquid began to drip from his fingers.

"You don't have to-"

With a sharp crack several chunks of ice fell to the floor. He breathed out, causing steam to dissolve quickly in the cold air.

"Soundwave."

Even his _voice _sounded familiar.

"Um. Hi, Soundwave. My name is Dylan." Dylan cringed at the horrible introduction as he fiddled with the heating.

Soundwave watched as he tried valiantly to turn the heating on. After several unsuccessful attempts, he succeeded.

"It'll take a while for the building to heat up."

Soundwave nodded just as a gust of wind slammed the door shut.

Soundwave was curious.

What little interaction he'd had with the inhabitants of this planet had led him to believe they reacted badly to things that were a) bigger than them and/or b) foreign to them, reacting with fear or aggression. This human, possibly due to the weather was not acting that way, acting as if he _knew _him.

But the strangest thing was Soundwave was certain they _had _met sometime previously. As illogical as them meeting and having left on such terms as the human would be willing to assist him, it was even stranger that Soundwave would have no memory of such an event.

Contemplating this, Soundwave began to clean himself, moving his arms and legs around in order to break the ice and get the Energon flowing through his body. The human watched, apparently transfixed by this ritual.

His vocaliser kept shorting out. Normally this wouldn't be a problem, but humans didn't communicate well physically, using gestures and such. Soundwave also doubted that Dylan wished to hear a voice in his head.

They were such a _talkative _race. Soundwave was grateful this didn't exactly seem to be the case with Dylan. He fought the urge to cough out the water that was in his tanks. As irritating as it was, it wouldn't do to spray the human with water and subsequently kill it.

His wing was another problem. Getting off this continent would be impossible without flight or a ground bridge, and he had little faith in the repair crew of the _Nemesis._

The human had situated himself on a stack of crates and was leaning against a higher one, still watching him curiously as more chunks of ice broke free and hit the floor. It was almost done, Soundwave told himself, then he could recharge.

"I'm guessing you don't come down here often?"

_You're mine!_

Soundwave's reply was choked off by the voice – _his voice_ – saying something that made absolutely no sense to him.

There had to be something wrong, a data glitch or he had contracted a virus from his surroundings.

"Negative."

Dylan nodded and sat watching him quietly until Soundwave finished.

Finally ice free, Soundwave wondered if the human was planning to stay here until he left. He was so exhausted; concern over being discovered was beginning to not bother him at all.

Slowly, watching Dylan with one optic, Soundwave lay down on the concrete floor. He didn't bother positioning himself; it would come when he actually fell into recharge.

The human looked back at him. A small part of Soundwave actually felt bad that he was leaving his – _the _human alone.

But he wasn't alone. Not really. And hopefully recharge would purge both the feeling of déjà vu out of his processor.

Soundwave settled quietly into recharge as Dylan Gould watched.

Part 1 of 2

A review would be nice…please? And have an extraordinarily awesome holiday season!


	2. Chapter 2

Part 2 or 2. After several months, I finally figured out how to end this story. As usual, I don't own Transformers.

* * *

><p><em>Prisoners? You're keeping prisoners now?<em>

_Yes._

Sunlight bounced off of the Decepticon's silver armor, burning his eyes.

_You have to teach them a lesson about respect. This was just business but now it's personal, do you understand me?_

Soundwave laughed, chilling Dylan to the bone. But it had to be done. Inevitably, they would find some way to escape.

_I understand. No prisoners, only trophies._

Dylan jerked awake, hitting his head on the wooden carton he had been leaning against. He pushed the snow goggles up to his forehead, letting the blood flow back into his face.

How long had he been asleep? Five minutes? Five hours? The storm sounded quieter than before, so it must have been a considerable amount of time.

His eyes slowly moved to his 'guest'. Soundwave had shifted to lie on his side, but he appeared to still be sleeping.

Dylan was glad that he couldn't see Soundwave's eyes, because he knew they would be the same ones he had seen in the dream or the memory or whatever it had been. He wasn't one to believe in reincarnation of any kind, but this kind of insanity had never happened to him before.

"This is probably all your fault," he said to no one in particular.

Despite the wind, it was surprisingly quiet. Dylan checked the time. Two more hours until his shift ended and the rest of the team would wake up to find a giant robot in the hangar.

Looking more closely at Soundwave, Dylan noticed he was shaking ever so slightly, as if he was cold and shivering. It was warmer now, but Dylan suspected their species was used to climate controlled spaces.

Quietly, he slipped off the crate and made his way to Soundwave hoping to…do what? Dylan wasn't sure but he felt confident enough in his past memories or insanity (neither of which had killed him yet) that he could do _something._

He paused a good meter away from Soundwave's head and peeled off his glove. It was warm enough that frostbite wouldn't be an immediate problem.

He stepped forward and placed his hand on the edge of Soundwave's faceplate. It felt cold to the touch. From here he could feel the tremors rocking Soundwave's body.

"It's okay." He whispered, hoping he was being heard.

Consciousness came to him slowly. Error messages scrolled through his systems, warning of system failure if the ice wasn't taken care of. His chest ached as if one of the Autobots had shot him directly in the spark.

The events of the past megacycles temporarily escaped him; he decided it was the fault of his overworked systems. But he was aware that he was in a moderately secure zone which would be safe for a little longer.

Soundwave did not want to wake up. Dealing with death had become second nature for the Decepticon. It felt comforting to think that the end of this was so close, so attainable.

These thoughts floated around his processor. Soundwave was content to let them do just that.

"It's okay."

That voice…it called to him from a place Soundwave couldn't remember. A ruined city. It didn't want to hurt him. Soundwave didn't want to hurt _it. _

Slowly, he onlined his optics, raising his head slightly. His thermal scanners had been offline until just a second ago – he hadn't realized how close the human had gotten. Although Soundwave couldn't feel it, Dylan was _touching _him.

Surprised, Dylan jumped, stepping away quickly, and promptly slid on a puddle of frozen water. Almost without thinking, Soundwave reached out and steadied the human, preventing him from falling to the ground.

The human looked at him with surprise written all over his face. Soundwave picked him up and deposited him on the stack of crates he had been sitting on previously.

A notification sent off an alert in his HUD. It was Knock Out.

_The groundbridge has just been repaired. We'll be arriving in twenty cycles. Do you need help in…ensuring the silence of the humans?_

Now _that _was a problem. As he scanned the message, Soundwave examined the minimal security of the base and wiped out every virtual indication of his presence. How to deal with Dylan however, was a different problem.

He couldn't kill him unless he killed everyone else in the base, and after that would entail megacycles of faking footage of some kind of accident and distress calls of voices he didn't currently have on hand. It all seemed so tiring.

Soundwave snuck a glance at Dylan, who was staring up at him with a mixture of confusion and concern on his face.

_Negative. Reinforcements are _not _necessary. _

_Gotcha. Twenty cycles._

_Acknowledged._

The transmission shut off, leaving Soundwave alone with the human. He wondered briefly if Dylan had any idea how narrowly he had just avoided death.

Soundwave sat up, shaking the newly formed ice from his body. As the chunks fell, some feeling returned to his body, allowing his self-repair systems to begin working.

How was he supposed to communicate that the human absolutely _could not _reveal what he had witnessed here? The government, not to mention the entire Decepticon armada would be on his tail without mercy.

"You're leaving?"

Soundwave nodded slowly, guided more by his so-far unfailing sense of déjà vu that anything else. Gently, he picked up the human, holding him carefully with his thin fingers. Dylan didn't seem fazed, but he never had. This whole time.

This piqued Soundwave's curiosity.

"_It's okay_," Dylan's voice played back as Soundwave plunged into his mind.

Soundwave had scanned multiple human minds before. Typically, they were a mix of _want_, _need _and _have. _Added in was a healthy measure of confusion, fear of what was happening and the sick sense of what they_ imagined_ he was doing to their mind.

Instead, Soundwave only sensed that a part of Dylan's brain was inactive. Presumably, the part which contained the explanation of _why _he was so unbothered by Soundwave. Soundwave probed deeper, feeling Dylan shift in his grip while his mind tried vainly to repel the invading force.

_There. _The trigger. The repressed memories. Soundwave considered the implications of what he was doing for a full cycle before diving right in.

It _clicked. _It was the only way Soundwave could explain it. Memories began flooding into both of their minds, Dylan's memories. Or someone who _had _been Dylan at one point.

He was looking up at Soundwave, or something that was supposed to be Soundwave. Silver armor glinted in the sunlight. They began speeding up, brief flashes of the time spent together, sounds, sights. Those brief moments as their bodies were pressed together and the moment of being perfectly _safe._ He felt the pure terror as his other self was slaughtered, and the bright pain as Dylan's back hit the pillar.

Dylan panicked, managing to get out of Soundwave's grip. He began tumbling to the floor. Soundwave was quicker, grabbing him again just as he was about to hit the ground.

The human looked up at him for one long moment. Soundwave could not help staring back.

He spoke, but his voice had changed, slightly. It was as if he was waking up from a dream.

"Soundwave?"

Soundwave, again, nodded.

Dylan shook his head and blinked.

"You _died_! I saw you die and I – what happened to you?"

Soundwave paused. _He _wasn't sure, exactly.

Dylan glared up at him.

"Don't try and give me the silent treatment, Soundwave. Why am I remembering this?"

"I am…unsure." Soundwave checked his internal timer. Ten cycles to go.

Dylan narrowed his eyes.

"You need to _talk _to me." the human shifted in his grip, making himself more comfortable.

"I don't know what happened." Soundwave admitted finally. "This was not intended."

Dylan laid his hand on one of Soundwave's fingers.

"You died," he repeated. "I saw you die, but you're here now and that means…"

Soundwave had come up with the same conclusion.

"I must have died as well." Dylan was breathing in short quick breaths. Soundwave was unsure if that was going to be a problem.

"Yes."

"I thought so." He shook his head, then looked up at Soundwave. "What are we going to do?"

Soundwave considered the question.

"Tell no one. I must return to the _Nemesis_, but I will find a way to contact you."

"O-okay. I can do that."

Soundwave was about to reply when Knock Out opened another channel.

_We're waiting outside when you've finished dealing with the problem._

_Acknowledged._

Soundwave held him for another long moment before gently placing him on the ground. He stood up, ready to leave.

"Soundwave?"

Almost as a relief, he turned back to the human.

Dylan opened his mouth as is he was about to say something, then shut it just as fast. He seemed to be considering his words.

"Stay safe." Was all he said. Soundwave sensed there was something else that needed saying, but didn't press the human further.

Soundwave nodded and turned back; he could hear Knock Out and Breakdown on the other side of the door.

He opened the door, feeling a cold blast of air on his body.

They were waiting for him, tapping fingers against their armor plating. Waiting to fix him.

He turned back one last time. He was so tempted to break his customary silence, but was unsure what he was expected to say.

Dylan was looking at him with an expression Soundwave knew he had seen somewhere before. He couldn't describe it, but it made the human's aesthetic appearance…different. Soundwave wasn't sure if that was a good or a bad thing.

He turned back, opening the door and letting the freezing air hit his body. It seemed to clear his mind.

Knock Out and Breakdown stood a ways apart from the building. Knock Out was rocking back and forth on his heels, trying to keep his circuitry online as Breakdown watched seemingly apathetically.

"Everything alright?" the red Decepticon asked, sensing his desire to turn back.

Soundwave nodded and headed toward the ground bridge, finally content to remain silent.

Review, please?


End file.
